Molded floppy-limbed doll with cellular torso and limbs and substantially cell-free thin joints



May 16, 1967 L. DOPPELT ETAL 3,319,376

MOLDED F'LOPPY-LIMBED DOLL WITH CELLULAR TORSO AND LIMBS ANDSUBSTANTIALLY CELL-FREE THTN JOINTS Filed Nov. 9, 1966 INVENTORSLAWRENCE DOPPELT MELVIN ROSENBLUM Y ALBERTO UNGARO ATTORNEYS UnitedStates Patent Ofiice Patented May 16, 1967 3,319,376 MOLDEDFLOPPY-LIMBED DOLL WITH CELLU- LAR TSRSO AND LTMBS AND SUBSTANTIALLYCELL-FREE THIN JGINTS Lawrence Doppelt, Great Neck, N.Y., MelvinRosenhlum, Hilisdale, N.J., and Alberto Ungaro, New York, N.Y.,assignors to Golderger Doll Mfg. Co., Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., acorporation of New York Filed Nov. 9, 1966, Ser. No. 593,135 5 Claims.(Cl. 46-156) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE -A molded floppy-limbed dollcomposed of a head and a skeleton-free body, the body including a torsoand limbs joined to the torso by resilient tough thin hinges whichpermit independent free-swinging movement of the limbs with respect tothe torso. The body is rotationally molded of foamed polyvinyl chlorideand has a tough one-piece impervious skin. The hinges are substantiallycell-free and are denser than the torso and limbs.

The present invention relates to a molded doll formed from a syntheticorganic foamed material and characterized by a floppy free-swingingcoupling between its torso and each of its limbs.

It is the primary object of our invention to provide a doll of thecharacter described having a one-piece, i.e. unitary, body which isformed in a single cycle of a molding operation and which therefore canbe manufactured at an exceedingly high rate of production, which doesnot require any assembly whatsoever, and which can be marketed as apopular-priced item.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a doll of thecharacter described having a solid body, that is,

a body entirely filled with synthetic organic foamed material, which hasa feel which is remarkably life-like, which is further characterized byan ensheathing skin which is washable but is yet impervious to water,which has an overall density less than the density of water so that itwill float, for example, in a childs tub, and which is completelyimmersible in water without the body absorbing any water and withoutwater finding its way internally of the body.

It is still another object of our invention to provide a doll of thecharacter described having a body including a torso and four limbs, thedoll being characterized by a free-swinging articulation in hingesconnecting the limbs and the torso so that a child playing with the dollcan move the limbs back and forth without encountering appreciableresistance by the doll body, such characteristic being similar to theloosely jointed connection between the limbs of a baby and the torso ofsuch a baby, the aforesaid floppy articulation however, beingself-formmaintaining so that the limbs are oriented by said hinges in apredetermined as-molded, outstretched position with respect to the bodyof the doll.

It is still another object of our invention to provide a (1011 of thecharacter described wherein the limbs and the torso (except for theskin) of the doll are of cellular crosssection and the hinges connectingthe limbs to the torso are of cell-free cross-section and by virtue ofsuch more solid construction are tough enough to successfully withstandhard long hours of play.

Other objects of our invention in part will be obvious and in part willbe pointed out hereinafter.

Our invention accordingly consists in the features of the construction,combination of elements and arrangements of parts which will beexemplified in the molded floppy-limbed foam doll hereinafter describedand of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appendedclaims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the variouspossible embodiments of our invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the novel molded floppylimbed foam doll;

FIG. 2 is a highly enlarged fragmentary front-to-back cross-sectionalview of the lower portion of the head, the upper and lower portions ofthe torso, the hinge connecting the torso to a leg, and an upper portionof the leg, the same being taken substantially along the line 2-2 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary highly enlarged side-to-side cross-sectionalview of the hinge between an arm and the torso, and the surrounding armand torso portions, the same being taken substantially along the line3-3 of FIG. 1; and a FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken transverselyof a hinge and substantially along the line 44 of FIG. 2, the view beingfragmentary and greatly enlarged.

In general and in accordance with the teaching of our invention, thereis provided a doll having a head and a body, the body including a torso,a pair of arms and a pair of legs, and hinges connecting the limbs tothe torso. The head of the doll is entirely conventional and the presentinvention relates primarily to the body of the doll. The body is adaptedto be joined to any standard doll head having a neck opening. Further,the body of the doll is formed as a single one-piece unit in a singlecycle of a molding operation.

It is to be understood that although separate cornponents of the bodywill subsequently be discussed, as for material. The body ischaracterized by a skin zone which is essentially non-cellular orequivalently includes tiny unconnected cells, whereby the skin of thebody is impervious to water. The interior of the components of the bodyare cellular in structure the cells preferably being, in the main,unconnected so that if the skin be punctured or broken the doll whenimmersed in water will still be substantially impervious to water andwill not absorb water like a sponge with consequent impairment of itsplay functions or repugnance to a childs parents. The interior cellularstructure of the body taken with the essentially non-cellular skin zoneensheathing the body give the body a somewhat resilient feel with aslightly delayed recovery which is remarkably life-like.

The torso of the body is connected to each limb of the body by aseparate hinge. The hinges are made from the same material as that fromwhich the remainder of the body is formed; however, each hinge has asubstantially uniformly essentially non-cellular cross-section. Eachhinge is, therefore, tough and is firmer than the other portions of thebody and in fact resembles the flexibility of a sect-ion of leather oflike thickness. Each such hinge has a broad and fiat front face and alike back face and is thin relative to the hinge and torso, and eachsuch hinge is joined on one side to the torso and on an opposed parallelside to a limb. Accordingly, each hinge bends most along a preferredaxis of rotation, said axis passing through its thickness, that is,parallel to and between its front and back faces. Said axis is parallelto the sides of the hinge which join the torso and a limb and isperpendicular to the length of the limb at the hinge. Thus, the hingeconmeeting the arm to the torso permits the arm to swing sidewaysforwardly and rearwardly while the hinge connecting the torso and a legpermits said leg to swing -upwardly both in front of the doll and inback of the doll. Notwithstanding the flexibility of the hinges, theyare suflicient-ly self-form-maintaining to hold the arms of the dollspread apart and the legs of the doll downward and slightly apart whensaid arms and legs extend in repose from the torso. Each hinge biasesits limb to such asmolded position. The floppy articulation of thehinges is such that when the torso is held by hand and pushed forwardlyand backw-ardly gently, the arms and the legs swing gently forwardly andrearwardly. Each hinge can be swung in any direction with respect to thetorso, although, as has been said, a preferred axis of rotation exists.The head is connected to the torso by engagement of a lower openingthe-rein with a reduced diameter section of a neck in one-piece with thebody. Such reduced sect-ion permits the head to bob forwardly andrearwardly or side-to-side with respect to the torso.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral denotes achilds molded floppy-limbe'd doll made in accordance with our invention.The various components of the doll resemble those of a baby or youngchild and said doll includes a head 12 and a body 14. The head includesthe usual features such as hair, eyes, ears, nose and a mouth. The headis formed from thinwalled plastic, is hollow and has a circular neckopening 16 leading into the interior of the head. Said opening is formedin the bottom wall 17 of the head. The head 12 is entirely conventionaland any dolls head having a neck opening and an internal cavity to whichthe said opening leads can be used with the body 14.

The body includes a torso 18, four limbs, viz., a pair of arms 20, 22and a pair of legs 24, 26, and limb hinges.

Each limb is connected to the torso by a different one of said hinges,there thus being a total of four hinges. More specifically, a hinge 28joins the arm 22 to the torso 18, a hinge 30 joins the leg 26 to thetorso, a hinge 32 joints the leg 24 to the torso and a hinge (not shown)joins the arm to the torso. Each hinge is of like construction, althoughthe hinges for the arms are at different orientation with respect to thetorso then are the hinges for the legs.

It is appropriate to mention at this point that the entire bodyconstitutes a single piece, that is, the body is unitary. Although it iswithin the scope of our invention to fabricate extremities of the limbs,such as hands, arms, calves, fore-arms, etc., separately, and join themto the limbs as by glueing, preferably, the body is formed by rotationalmolding following deposition of a single charge of a foamable resilientresin in a rotational molding machine. Such machine is shown by way ofexample in United States Letters Patent Nos. 2,569,869, 2,629,131 and2,696,024. The charge may be in liquid form, for example, a plastisol,including a heat actuatable blowing agent. The charge is sufficientlylarge to expand upon blowing and fill the entire mold for the body.Thus, it should be clear thatwhile the separate components of the body14 have been individually named, all of said components including thehinges form a single integral whole and blend into one another withoutdistinct lines of demarcation.

A suitable resilient thermoplastic resin is polyvinylchloride. The bodyis solid, by which is meant that any crosssection taken of the bodyshows that the foamed polyvinylchloride material completely fills theinterior of the body and that there is no large internal chamber withinthe body. Moreover, the body has no supporting skeleton, e.g. a maleablewire skeleton, which is typical of many childs dolls; rather the form ofthe doll and its stance are provided solely by the characteristics ofthe molded foamed material from which it is made.

In FIG. 2, an enlargement A of a small cross-sect ion of the bodyincluding its skin zone and a portion internally of the skin shows thatthe torso (the same is true of the limbs), has a varying cellularstructure at various internal depths. Deeply within the body, as at B,the cells are relatively large; in a zone as at C close to yetinternally of the skin zone, the cells are of a smaller size; at theskin zone D of the body, there are essentially no cells or they are verysmall. The skin cells, if any, are unconnected to one another (the wallsof the cells are unbroken) and preferably the internal cells (beneaththe skin) are unconnected to one another. The aforesaid variations incellular size are engendered during the rotational molding process andis believed to occur primarily because the higher temperature presentalong the molding surface than in the interior collapses most cells nearthe skin zone. Typically, a charge remains in the rotational mold forten minutes and the mold oven is at a temperature of 400 F.

The essentially non-cellular structure of the skin zone makes the skintough and resistant to tearing or puncturing. Also, due to theessentially non-cellular structure of the skin zone, the body has anensheathing skin 34 which is impervious to water, i.e. tubbable. Sincethe skin covers the entire external surface of the body, water cannotenter into the interior of the body. Thus, the doll of the presentinvention is particularly well adapted to be washed by a young child ortaken into his bath as often as desired with no noticeable effect on thebody. Moreover, the body may be immersed in water without harm orsoaking up water. The density of the body as a whole is materially lessthan the density of water, for instance from about one-fifth to aboutone-fifteenth, so that the doll will float in a tub. In a test made witha doll formed in accordance with the present invention, the doll bodywas completely submerged under water for one hour. When it was removed,it was buoyant and no increase could be detected in its weight.

The body as a whole is resilient. By this is meant that a finger of achild may be pushed partially into the body and the skin will yieldlocally and inwardly; when the finger is removed, the skin reverts toits initial position. The body has a slightly delayed return yetresilient feel which is remarkably life-like.

The hinges of the doll constitute floppy, free-swinging connectionsbetween the limbs and the torso. The hinges permit the arms and legs tobe swung freely with respect to the torso, yet the hinges aresufficiently self-form-maintaining to hold the arms 20, 22 outright andthe legs 24, 26 downward and somewhat spread apart in their asmoldedpositions. In other words, each hinge is resilient and has a position ofrepose to which it reverts if the limb which it joins to the torso isnot being urged to a displaced position. In such repose position, thehinge is sufliciently sturdy to tend to retain its limb in its as-moldedposition. Accordingly, if say an arm of an erect body is pushedrearwardly, the hinge articulation permits thisvto be done easily andwithout noticeable resistance. When the arm is then released, the hingewill swing the arm gently back to its as-molded position.

Each hinge is of like construction and for brevity only the hinges 28and 30 will be discussed in detail. Each hinge is thin, i.e. has athickness substantially less than the thickness of any limb or the torsoof the doll. By way of example, the thickness of the hinge 30 in a dollformed in accordance with the invention is approximately 4" while theminimum thickness of the leg of such a doll remote from the hinge isapproximately 1%", said latter named measurement being taken from thefront to the back of the leg and immediately below the knee.

Each hinge further has a planar front face, respectively, 28a and 30a,and a flat planar rear face 28b and 30b. The front and rear faces ofeach hinge are substantially parallel and spaced apart by the thicknessof each such hinge. Moreover, all of the hinges lie in a common planewhich passes through the torso of the doll from side to side, said planebisecting the neck opening 16 and passing through the legs of the doll.

Each of said hinge faces is rectangular and includes both a shortdimension and a long dimension, both of said dimensions lying in a planeperpendicular to the thickness of the hinge. When the doll is heldupright as shown in FIG. 1, the arm hinges have their short dimensionshorizontal and their long dimensions vertical. Conversely, the leghinges have their short dimensions vertical and their long dimensionshorizontal.

The arm hinges each have a preferred axis of rotation, said axes beingvertical when the doll is upright, which is substantially parallel totheir long dimensions and said axes of rotation lies in a plane parallelto the plane in which the hinges lie. Said axis is perpendicular to thelength of the arm at the hinge. The leg hinges each also have apreferred axis of rotation which is horizontal when the doll is upright,parallel, to their long dimension and which lies in a plane parallel tothe plane of the hinges. Said axis is perpendicular to the length of theleg at the hinge. Although the preferred axes of rotation of the armhinges and leg hinges have been discussed, it will be understood thateach limb can be rotated in any rotative direction on its hinge withrespect to the torso. Rotation about any axis other than the preferredaxis meets with more resistance by the hinge, yet this resistance can beovercome even by the force exerted by the hands of a small child.

FIG. 4 is a greatly enlarged cross-sectional'fragmentary view of atypical hinge, the hinge 30, and illustrates that said hinge incross-section is uniformly substantially non-cellular. The hinges havethis dense cross-section due to the rotational molding which is employedto form the doll body. Since the hinges are appreciably constricted, thesections of the mold forming the configuration of the hinges are quiteclose together. Their proximity both inhibits foaming of the plasticcharge in this portion and the heat of these adjacent sections .(becausesaid sections are exposed to oven heat and are close together), tends toheat this portion of the body to a higher temperature than the inside ofthe torso and limbs and thereby to collapse any cells which might formin this portion of the body. Thus, a typical hinge has a harder feelthen the remainder of the body and in fact, resembles the consistency ofleather of like thickness.

Each hinge has one side, respectively, 280, 300 which is joined to andblends into the torso and each hinge has another side, respectively,28d, 30d which is joined to and blends into a limb, the side 28dblending into the arm 22 and the side 30d blending into the leg 26. Saidsides are parallel and spaced apart. Both the torso immediately adjacentto each hinge and the limb immediately adjacent to each hinge aresomewhat bulbous and each hinge holds its limb sufiiciently distant fromthe torso so that the limb can be swung back and forth throughapproximately an arc of half a circle without interference by the body.

The density of the body of the doll, other than the hinges, can, aspointed out previously, vary widely, a typical average density for thefoamed plastic being seven .pounds per cubic foot. The density of thehinges is approximately the same as the density of the thermoplasticresilient resin as there are essentially no or very few cells in thehinges. The typical density for the hinge is approximately the same asthe density of water. If the hinges of the doll were permitted to befoamed they would be considerably weaker and would tend to tear quiteeasily.

The torso is connected to the doll head 12 by a foam filled neck 35. Theneck is unitary with the remainder of the torso and has a mushroomconfiguration in elevational cross-section (see FIG. 2). The headincludes an overhanging flange portion 36 which is circular in plan andwhich has a diameter greater than the diameter of the neck opening 16 ofthe head. The neck further includes a constricted shank portion 38dependent from the flange 36 which joins and blends into the upper partof the torso. The shank portion is also circular in transverse sectionand has a diameter slightly larger, e.g. one-quarter inch, than the neckopening 16 so that the head may be rotated with respect to the body,with, the wall defining the neck opening frictionally sliding on theshank portion 38. In an assembled doll, the flange portion 36 overhangsthe interior surface of the bottom wall of the head surrounding the neckopening 16, thereby retaining the head on the body. Due to the lesserthickness of the shank portion 38 of the neck 35 and due to theresiliency and flexibility of the foamed material from which the body ismade, the neck permits the head to be swung from side to side or fromfront to back with respect to the body.

The body is formed in a two part rotational mold, each part of the moldforming a different front half and rear half of the body. A parting line40 formed at the juncture of the parts of the mold circumscribes thebody and runs on the outside of all of the hinges. Said parting line 40lies in the same plane in which the hinges lie.

We wish to point out that it is within the scope of our invention tosecure less than all of the limbs to the torso in an integral fashion bythe use of unitary tough thin hinges in the foregoing manner. Thus, anysingle limb or any pair of limbs may be attached with the constructiondetailed heretofore, and the other pair of limbs or balance of the limbscan be connected to the torso in any conventional manner as, forexample, through the use of swivel joints.

It thus will be seen that we have provided a molded foamed fioppy-limbeddoll which achieves the several objects of our invention and which iswell adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention andas various changes might be made in the embodiment set forth, it is tobe understood that all matter herein described or shown in theaccompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

We claim:

1. A molded floppy-limbed doll having a head and a skeleton-freeresilient body, the body including, in onepiece, a torso, limbs andresilient tough hinge means, each hinge means constituting a sectionjoining a different limb to the torso for independent rotative movementwith respect to the torso in all directions and for free-swingingmovement with respect to the torso about a preferred axis of rotationperpendicular to the length of the limb at the hinge means, each saidhinge means having a thickness substantially less than the thickness ofthe limbs and a dimension perpendicular to and substantially longer thanits thickness, said dimension being parallel to said preferred axis ofrotation, the body being constituted of a synthetic organic resilientresin material, the material of the limbs and the torso of the bodybeing completely filled with cells internally thereof, the bodyincluding a tough water impervious skin completely ensheathing the sameand in one-piece therewith, said body being buoyant in water, thematerial of each hinge means being substantally cell-free and each hingemeans having a density substantially greater than the density of anylimb.

2. A doll as set forth in claim 1 wherein each hinge means when inrepose lies in a plane passing through the sides of the torso from thetop to the bottom of the torso.

3. A doll as set forth in claim 1 wherein each hinge means has one sidejoined to the torso and has an opposite spaced parallel side joined to alimb, each hinge means holding its limb away from the torso for swingingmovement about the preferred axis without interference through an arc ofabout one-half a circle.

4. A doll as set forth in claim 1 wherein each hinge means isself-form-maintaining, the hinge means in repose retaining the limbswith respect to the torso in their as-molded position and each hingemeans, when its limb is displaced and then released, in the absence of arestraining force gently swinging its limb back to approximately itsas-molded position.

of the body material are unconnected.

UNITED References Cited by the Examiner STATES PATENTS McElroy.

Leathers 46-156 ONeill 46-156 Meurisse 273-5 8.2 Brayford 46-156 X Grusset :11.

References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS F. BARRY SHAY,Primary Examiner.

1. A MOLDED FLOPPY-LIMBED DOLL HAVING A HEAD AND A SKELETON-FREERESILIENT BODY, THE BODY INCLUDING, IN ONEPIECE, A TORSO, LIMBS ANDRESILIENT TOUGH HINGE MEANS, EACH HINGE MEANS CONSTITUTING A SECTIONJOINING A DIFFERENT LIMB TO THE TORSO FOR INDEPENDENT ROTATIVE MOVEMENTWITH RESPECT TO THE TORSO IN ALL DIRECTIONS AND FOR FREE-SWINGINGMOVEMENT WITH RESPECT TO THE TORSO ABOUT A PREFERRED AXIS OF ROTATIONPERPENDICULAR TO THE LENGTH OF THE LIMB AT THE HINGE MEANS, EACH SAIDHINGE MEANS HAVING A THICKNESS SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN THE THICKNESS OFTHE LIMBS AND A DIMENSION PERPENDICULAR TO AND SUBSTANTIALLY LONGER THANITS THICKNESS, SAID DIMENSION BEING PARALLEL TO SAID PREFERRED AXIS OFROTATION, THE BODY BEING CONSTITUTED OF